Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Richard Norris, 39, started a new chapter in his life after
a miraculous procedure gave him a new face. The Virginia
resident lost most of his face after he accidently shot himself in 1997. His
lower jaw, lips, tongue, and nose were blown off and his face was left
disfigured. For the next 15 years, Norris locked himself inside his
parents’ home and would rarely step out. All the mirrors in the house were
covered so he wouldn’t have to look at his own face.

This nightmare continued for Norris until his mother found a
Baltimore-based doctor named Eduardo Rodriguez, who specializes in plastic and
reconstructive surgery. Rodriguez was willing to help, and he started with partially
reconstructing Norris’ face. The recovery began with the doctor creating a nose
and chin out of the patient’s flesh, but he wanted to go farther than that. The
ultimate goal was to give Norris a brand new face, which Rodriguez believed was
possible using a human cadaver. The procedure - which would replace the patient’s own face
with that of a deceased donor - was extremely risky, as it required removing
Norris’ face and there was no guarantee he would survive. However, this was a
risk Norris was willing to take as this operation could help regain his life
back.

With that, the doctor and his team of 150 began the
36-hour-long operation on March 19, 2012. The entire face of the donor was taken off: muscle, blood
vessels, nerves, and even bones. The disfigured parts of Norris’ face
were also removed, and the new face was hammered and sawed in. Norris made a full recovery, including regaining much of the
sensation in his face. His miraculous and one-of-a-kind procedure gained a lot
of attention by the media, and he was even approached by a GQ writer to be
interviewed and photographed for the magazine’s August 2014 edition.

Richard told GQ that after his story went public, he started
getting many fan letters. One of those fans even became his girlfriend. “A drop of hope can create an ocean, but a bucket of faith
can create an entire world,” said Norris regarding his experience. The first full-face transplant in the nation took place in
2011, and since then dozens of individuals have benefited from the procedure,
thanks to deceased organ donors and specialized surgeons.